February 2009
Thanks for a Great Event!
Andy Shafer, Elevance's EVP of Sales & Marketing, introduces moderator Dr. Janet Nelson.
More than 100 guests attended Elevance’s office opening and roundtable discussion about the future of the green chemicals industry yesterday. There was so much great content that there is too much to summarize in one posting, but let me touch on a few themes and highlights:
John Warner led off our roundtable discussion with an engaging summary of the opportunity for green chemistry and the importance of innovation and education. Opportunity, innovation, and partnership were themes that emerged and recurred as the discussion progressed.
Andy Gilicinski described how the opportunity to provide consumers with more sustainable and green products is here to stay and pointed out that the “toolbox” for creating products that meet these market needs is limited – and Bob Grubbs discussed the advances that are being made in catalysts that are improving this toolbox.
Bryce Lee added insights into the drivers of the industry, Wall Street’s perspectives, and indicated that he felt green chemistry is the next wave in clean-tech investments (following investments in wind and solar that are now becoming crowded fields).
David Long shared information on how industry is coming together to form interesting partnerships and roundtables that will accelerate the developments.
I promise to recap more of the discussion here soon, but would build on moderator Janet Nelson’s suggestion that we use this blog to continue the discussion.
After the roundtable, Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar and the Bolingbrook Chamber of Commerce President Alyssia Lee helped kick off the Open House with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
My thanks to each of the panelists, our moderator, and partners from Materia, Dow Corning and Tetramer Technologies for providing for such an interesting and engaging day. Look for more details here soon.
Dr. Robert Grubbs, whose Nobel Prize-winning technology is used by Elevance, Mayor Roger Claar and Alyssia Lee, President of the Bolingbrook Chamber, join me at the ribbon cutting.
BIO’s Nelson to Moderate Panel Discussion
If you’ve been following our blog, you’ll be familiar with our green chemicals roundtable and the outstanding cast of industry innovators that will discuss the emergence of the green chemicals industry on Feb. 17. We are excited to announce that Dr. Janet Nelson will be joining us to help facilitate the discussion. Dr. Nelson is currently working at the forefront of the legislative and policy decisions taking place in Washington, DC that will impact the industry and brings extensive industry knowledge that will add significantly to our conversation.
Dr. Nelson is currently the Director of the Industrial and Environmental Section at Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), where she provides policy input on a broad range of subjects, including: synthetic biology, green chemistry, pharmaceutical intermediates, fine chemicals, food flavorings, food enzymes, biotechnology used in cosmetics, and nanotechnology. Her doctoral research at the California Institute of Technology focused on metallo complexes, and after receiving her PhD, she continued her research at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Her efforts to incorporate molecular modeling into the chemistry curriculum at St. Olaf College and, later, Middlebury College led her to Wavefunction, Inc., in Irvine, California. As Director of Educational Projects, she developed a workbook and workshop to train students in using state-of-the-art molecular modeling software.
Dr. Nelson has also managed scientific review and administered research grants with the American Chemical Society. Before joining BIO in 2008, she completed a Commerce Science and Technology Fellowship with a 10-month appointment at the National Academy of Sciences.
I am very pleased to have Dr. Nelson as moderator and I look forward to an exciting conversation on Feb. 17!
Elevance to Host Industry Innovators
Elevance is thrilled to have the opportunity to host an exciting panel of industry innovators to discuss the emergence and the future of the green chemical industry. With their broad experiences and mix of perspectives I believe we’ll have a rich and interesting discussion.
The panel will include Nobel Prize-winning professor Dr. Robert Grubbs; co-author of Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice John C. Warner; David C. Long, President of Environmental Sustainability Solutions; Bryce Lee, Managing Director, Investment Banking at Credit Suisse and Dr. Andrew G. Gilicinski, Director of Technology Brokerage and Innovation for The Clorox Company. Stay tuned for more on each of these special guests.
The roundtable discussion will be part of our Feb. 17 office opening celebration at our new Bolingbrook, Ill., facility.
Several of our partners will also join us. Representatives from Dow Corning Corporation, Tetramer Technologies, LLC and Materia, Inc. will be on hand to provide product demonstrations and discuss the materials and technologies we are developing together.
Contact us at rsvp@elevance.com if you’re interested in attending. We will welcome as many people as possible, but our space is limited and we’ve had a great response already!
If you can’t attend, feel free to post suggestions for topics of discussion or questions for our panel; we’ll try to incorporate as many as possible into the discussion.
— K’Lynne Johnson
Social Media